Harvick Dominates His Way Into the Chase Final Four

Credit: RIS/AZ John Motal

AVONDALE, AZ – RIS – Kevin Harvick led 264 of the advertised 312 laps en route to winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday.  It was a do or die situation since only a win could get him into the final round of the 2014 Cup Championship.  Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, and Ryan Newman also qualified.  Those four will race for the 2014 Sprint Cup next Sunday at Miami-Homestead Speedway.  A second-place finish in Sunday’s Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 did Jeff Gordon no good, thanks to a final-lap run by Ryan Newman, who passed rookie Kyle Larson for the 11th position on the final lap to eliminate Gordon from the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup by a single point.

The driver who finishes highest among those four will claim the 2015 series title.

“Wow, I guess that’s what it feels like to hit a walk-off in extra innings there,” said Harvick, who completed the season sweep at Phoenix with his fourth victory in the last five races there. “I could tell that we were probably going to have to win, because everybody was running up in the front of the pack that we were racing against. That was our goal coming in here and that’s really the goal every time you come to Phoenix.

“This place has just been phenomenal for me personally and for this team this year. To do that in front of all your almost hometown fans (Harvick is from Bakersfield, Calif.) and all these people who have been rooting for me since the mid-‘90s is pretty unbelievable. Man, I think this says a lot about our team. I think we have been through a lot this year. They put our backs against the wall. We put it in Victory Lane and get to go on.”

With the results in, Harvick goes from desperation mode -- needing a victory at Phoenix to advance to the season finale -- to the role of favorite at Homestead, given the speed his cars have shown all season long.

Asked to handicap the championship race, Gordon was emphatic, and for good reason. He chased Harvick to the finish line and fell 1.636 seconds behind in the final 12-lap run.

“I like Harvick,” Gordon asserted. “Yeah, I think Harvick looks really good… the guy has led the most laps all year long, guys. It's not me that's saying this. I do think that Denny won that race (at Homestead) last year, so he can be really, really strong there.

“But Kevin looked good there in the test (in late October), and, man, they've just been so strong lately, and it seems like they've gotten some of the bugs worked out in their team that they had early in the year. And I think if they do that next week, they're going to be really tough to beat like they were today.”

In winning for the fourth time this season, Harvick led 40 more circuits than he led in a dominating win at the one-mile track on Mar. 2.

In addition to Gordon, third-place finisher Matt Kenseth, fourth-place Brad Keselowski and 15th place Carl Edwards failed to advance to the final race with their title eligibility intact. Kenseth fell three points short of Newman in the final tally. Keselowski has won the most races in the series so far.  Only Logano can tie him for that honor.

Hamlin and Logano overcame potential Chase-ending mistakes to claim their positions in the final race.

On Hamlin’s first pit stop, under caution on Lap 30, the rear tire changer’s air gun inadvertently knocked the valve stem off and flattened the tire. Hamlin returned to the pits and restarted 36th. Twice during the race, he fell a lap down to Harvick but took advantage of two free passes as the highest-scored lapped car and ultimately finished fifth.

The crew gained three positions for Hamlin on his final stop, from 11th to eighth, even though five drivers stayed out on older tires. Hamlin parlayed his improved track position into a top five.

Logano was penalized when he dragged a fuel can that had not disengaged from the coupler out of his pit stall under caution on Lap 123. Like Hamlin, Logano lost a lap to Harvick but took advantage of a “lucky dog” before a restart on Lap 206 and rallied to finish sixth.

Those comebacks gave Logano and Hamlin more than enough margin to qualify for the championship race.

“I think Denny and I had the exact same day out there,” Logano observed. “Both of us had a little issue on pit road and got stuck back there, went down a lap, (and) we recovered and we finished fifth and sixth. We really kept our cool throughout the day. I think that was important. We were able to get the lucky dog, then had some damage avoiding the 18's (Kyle Busch’s) crash, was able to fix that and recover again to get ourselves back in.

“Definitely a drama filled day for sure, not what we wanted. We were hoping for just a normal, uneventful day to just get a nice top 10 is all we needed—which we ended up doing, but it was definitely eventful along the way. Proud of my team, proud of everyone to get us to this point, and we'll have some fun next week, go for a championship.”

Despite the uncertainness of next week’s final race, one thing is guaranteed at Homestead: with Harvick, Hamlin, Logano and Newman competing for the title, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will have a first-time champion.

Unofficial Race Results: 27th Annual Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500: Phoenix International Raceway

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Lap, Pts, BPts, TLd, LLd, Notes
1) 3, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet, 312, 48, 5, 3, 264, Running
2) 7, Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet, 312, 42, , , , Running
3) 5, Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota, 312, 41, , , , Running
4) 2, Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford, 312, 40, , , , Running
5) 1, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota, 312, 40, 1, 1, 24, Running
6) 4, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 312, 39, 1, 2, 17, Running
7) 10, Kurt Busch, No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet, 312, 37, , , , Running
8) 16, Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 Kelley Blue Book Chevrolet, 312, 37, 1, 1, 4, Running
9) 28, Greg Biffle, No. 16 Sherwin Williams Ford, 312, 35, , , , Running
10) 21, Marcos Ambrose, No. 9 Stanley Ford, 312, 34, , , , Running
11) 20, Ryan Newman, No. 31 CAT Mining Chevrolet, 312, 33, , , , Running
12) 14, Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet, 312, 32, , , , Running
13) 8, Kyle Larson #, No. 42 Target Chevrolet, 312, 31, , , , Running
14) 19, Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Liftmaster Chevrolet, 312, 30, , , , Running
15) 13, Carl Edwards, No. 99 Fastenal Ford, 312, 29, , , , Running
16) 24, AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 GLAD Trash Bags Chevrolet, 312, 28, , , , Running
17) 18, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Cargill/Fry's Ford, 312, 27, , , , Running
18) 23, Aric Almirola, No. 43 Farmland/Folds of Honor Ford, 312, 26, , , , Running
19) 9, Brian Vickers, No. 55 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota, 312, 25, , , , Running
20) 29, Tony Stewart, No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, 312, 24, , , , Running
21) 22, Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet, 312, 23, , , , Running
22) 32, Danica Patrick, No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet, 312, 22, , , , Running
23) 11, Paul Menard, No. 27 Richmond/Menards Chevrolet, 312, 21, , , , Running
24) 34, David Gilliland, No. 38 Long John Silvers Ford, 312, 20, , , , Running
25) 35, David Ragan, No. 34 Taco Bell Ford, 312, 20, 1, 1, 2, Running
26) 30, Michael Annett #, No. 7 Accell Construction Chevrolet, 311, 19, 1, 1, 1, Running
27) 26, Ty Dillon(i), No. 33 Charter Communications Chevrolet, 310, 0, , , , Running
28) 33, Reed Sorenson, No. 36 Flasr.com Chevrolet, 310, 16, , , , Running
29) 38, Landon Cassill(i), No. 40 Newtown Building Supplies Chevrolet, 310, 0, , , , Running
30) 41, JJ Yeley(i), No. 83 Dumb & Dumber To Toyota, 309, 0, , , , Running
31) 31, Michael McDowell, No. 95 KLOVE Radio Ford, 309, 13, , , , Running
32) 37, Alex Bowman #, No. 23 Dumb & Dumber To Toyota, 308, 12, , , , Running
33) 42, Joey Gase(i), No. 32 Zimmer.com Ford, 308, 0, , , , Running
34) 6, Kyle Busch, No. 18 Banfield Pet Hospital Toyota, 308, 10, , , , Running
35) 12, Casey Mears, No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet, 305, 9, , , , Running
36) 43, Mike Wallace(i), No. 66 Toyota, 303, 0, , , , Running
37) 27, Justin Allgaier #, No. 51 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet, 302, 7, , , , Running
38) 25, Austin Dillon #, No. 3 Cheerios Chevrolet, 283, 6, , , , Running
39) 15, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Patriotic Chevrolet, 235, 5, , , , Accident
40) 17, Clint Bowyer, No. 15 5-hour Energy Toyota, 211, 4, , , , Accident
41) 36, Josh Wise, No. 98 PPR98 Chevrolet, 204, 3, , , , Accident
42) 40, Cole Whitt #, No. 26 16T fuelxx/Tapout Muscle Recovery Toyota, 147, 2, , , , Accident
43) 39, Mike Bliss(i), No. 37  Chevrolet, 16, 0, , , , Brakes

# = Rookie (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Fin = Finish, Str = Start, Pts = Total Points, BPs = Lap Leader Bns Pts, TLd = Times Led, LLd = Laps Led. Average Speed: 99.991 MPH Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 07 Mins, 13 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.636 Seconds
Lead Changes: 8 among 6 drivers
Cautions: 12 for 58 laps